An Offer You Can't Refuse
by The Pyroman
Summary: An annual event goes wrong for many, but right for some. Renegade and street rat Anko Mitarashi was in too deep to help even herself, but will a little blonde boy give her the push in the right direction to turn the village on its heels?
1. Backs are Turned

He was so close.

It was almost over.

He had almost survived without harm.

Almost.

It was the final day of Konoha's annual Fox Hunt, an event that lasted for a full week starting on the tenth of October. It wasn't that the hunt started and stopped, but the fact that it was so much worse than any other time of the year. A whole week was enough for just about everyone to get their licks in. Twice even, given everyone offered everyone else a chance.

It was easy to put everything into your punches when you knew that the boy couldn't die.

It was even easier when you were a firm believer that a now six year old boy was once a titanic demon who laid waste to your home and murdered your friends and family.

Nearby, a woman flaunted her body to the man sitting easy in a chair. Her expression was flirty and alluring, but her eyes made it obvious that she couldn't care less about him.

She sauntered up to the man, her arms crossing over her chest and pulling her trench coat off of her shoulders to reveal only a mesh armor shirt and a simple skirt underneath. Her hands slithered down her body, fingers digging underneath her shirt and pulling it up slowly.

The door behind her flew open, letting in the orange light of the setting sun.

The woman stopped and let go of her shirt, not even bothering to pull it back down. As her head spun to look at whoever was interrupting her work, her spiky purple hair waved ever so slightly with momentum.

"What do you want?!" She snarled. They knew she didn't like being interrupted during her job, but she supposed that it was better that someone stepped in now rather than later.

The man who had barged in looked past the half-naked woman and to the man sitting down. His eyes were hidden by a pair of wide sunglasses, their pitch black tint allowing him to look at whatever he pleased without being noticed.

"We caught him." His gruff voice echoed faintly in cheer.

The man in the chair smirked, pushing his arms to the ends of the arms on the chair and pulling himself up to stand.

The woman looked to the man at the door furiously. She knew who he was, but it didn't matter to her. What she knew was that her client was leaving before she got the rest of her payment. The full payment itself was pocket change at most, but she took whatever she could from whoever was paying.

"What about the rest of my money?" She asked, her eyes following the other man as he walked past her. He had the audacity to shove her out of the way to leave the building, not caring if she hit the wall of not.

"You'll get it." He responded at the door. "Later. We still have three hours of fun to look forward to before you get my money, Anko, and I think my evening is now full." He slammed the door behind him, letting the sound ring out through the small room now only occupied by one.

She spit at the door. With the training she had, it was no problem to hit the spot where his head would have been if he hadn't moved from the frame. With a grunt, she pulled her shirt back down and picked up her tan trench coat.

They both knew the deal, as did all of the others and their clients. If the client was putting a pin on their services until further notice, it was no longer the woman's job to see it to the end. It was the client's job to rearrange another meeting time, and Anko would wait however long it took for him to get back with her about it.

Anko left the room without a word. Her hand fished out the key to the room to lock it, turning the key in the lock to ensure that nobody would be using her private room.

She took to the shadows, quickly catching up to her client in silence to see who was more important than her pay. She could take missions. They wouldn't be hard, but she had a business to run. She couldn't stay away from the village for too long without risking someone trying to take down the business that she worked so hard to create, uphold, and maintain.

It didn't take long for her prey to reach his destination. It was a single alleyway not too far from her own building. The only thing that was unusual was the fact that there were tons of villagers gathered on both ends of the alley.

She had never seen so many people in this specific area of the village before. The Red Light District was the home to the dregs of society of every kind. Even the homeless had a home in the district, finding seemingly empty buildings to take refuge in during the evenings and cheap meals that you could only come to love by living in such a situation. Pocket change was riches, half decent scraps were gourmet, and almost everyone was a low life in their own way. That was the Red Light District.

Deciding to take the rooftops, Anko slithered up the wall, sticking to the surface and grabbing all available scraps and holes to pull herself up further.

The rooftops offered a much better view. Both ends of the alley were blocked, leaving a small clearing in the middle. The men and woman keeping the openings closed off all had their rusty and broken weapons ready. The obvious state of disrepair displayed the true age of the weapons and the supposed lack of care.

Though, it wasn't the yelling and hollering ninja and civilian that captured her attention.

It was the boy in the center.

He was battered and bruised, blood spilling from a gash in his tiny head that healed only seconds after Anko's hazel eyes locked onto the wound. The wet blood continued to drip down his face; his golden locks and tattered white shirt were stained with the same crimson liquid.

His eyes were drenched in that of fear. Those crystal blue eyes of his were icy and pale, his irises shrunken and flickering about from person to person in hopes of seeing a single set of eyes that weren't filled with rage and sinister delight.

He scampered backwards to the wall, faltering only a step before and falling back against the wall of one of the many unmarked buildings in the area.

"What'cha gonna do now, fox brat?"

Anko looked down at the boy, still standing high above everyone. She knew who he was. She knew his story, and she knew that she wasn't going to punish him for taking her business away from her. She wasn't going to become one of them when she knew the obvious truth to the matter.

She may have been as close to the bottom of the scale as one could be, only steps above him.

He was the lowest point on the scale. He had no family, no real friends, other than those in the Red Light District.

That was Naruto Uzumaki.

The leader of the village of Konoha did all he could to protect the boy, but it was never enough. Hiruzen had even deployed a security detail to monitor the boy at all times.

But life finds a way.

All it took was a swift punch to knock Naruto out cold. His body dropped faster than a sack of rocks, the soft thud and lack of motion indicating that he had indeed lost consciousness.

His security seemed to have abandoned him, Anko hazarded a guess. There was not a single soul there to protect him.

Her eyes burned with passion, her hand digging into her trench coat to pull out a small throwing knife. The kunai was spun and twirled in her fingers before being thrown into the foot of the man who had left her not minutes before to go and attack a child.

He yelled with all of his might, focusing his pain into the yell in an attempt to dispel it. The kunai had cut all the way through his foot, the tip of the little blade digging into the ground underneath his feet.

With the others around him, he looked up to see who had thrown it. With wide eyes, he was surprised to find the lusty woman who was begging for his money.

His eyes widened further as she took out another kunai and licked the blade slowly and carefully.

"So this is what you do when the old monkey isn't looking."

(music: Jonas West - Epic China)

Not a word was uttered from the group harassing the boy. None of them dared say anything to Anko. Their silence was rewarded with a condescending smirk. They watched as she jumped down from the rooftop and stood over the boy, the blade of the knife pointing backward and held up in a defensive position.

The man who she had just stabbed did not move his foot. His alabaster arm rose to point at the brazen woman. "We don't have business with you, snake whore. We just want the demon brat."

Anko began to chuckle darkly. Her gaze was sick and twisted enough to match her laugh one hundred times over. Once more, she twirled the kunai between her fingers, raising it up now pointed at her former client.

"Tisk. Tisk." Her words were calm and dangerous. "You should know my name by now, Mizuki. My name is..." Her body spun, the arm holding the kunai pulled back and winded up, her eyes lining the shot to kill.

"Anko."

The blade whistled through the air.

"Mitarshi."

And made its mark.

Mizuki's body fell back and hit the dirt road with a soft thud. Anko's ruthlessness and rough demeanor were already enough to frighten the men and woman who had been pummeling Naruto, but the sudden and near soundless death of the white haired chunin forced them to take several more steps back.

"No happy ending for you." She stepped up to Mizuki's unmoving body. Her trench coat hung over her body as she leant over to pry the kunai out of his body. She was half tempted to take a nibble out of his skin for everyone to enjoy, but decided against it. Anko would normally own up to the rumors about her, but she wasn't going to disturb some kid by making him watch her take a bite out of a dead body.

She was slow to rise back up, the fire of anger sparking in her eyes as she looked to the civilian and ninja around her.

"Mizuki doesn't taste all that great." She stated, tasting the blood off of one of the kunai she had just pulled. "But I'm sure that at least one of you will taste better..." Her smirk turned wicked, untamed and ready to devour the closest person to her.

The two groups surrounding her and the boy stepped back even further. "Y-you freak! The council will have a hell of a day with you!" One of them yelled to her.

Anko's chuckle was dark and alluring. Her eyes fixated on the one who had spoken out against her, her right hand pointing one of the kunai in their direction. "Who's going to tell them?" She asked, adopting a sweet face and setting her hands just underneath her shin. "Certainly not little 'ole me. And unless you scram..." Her tone was sickly sweet, her eyes gleaming with that special brew of madness. "Definitely not you…"

Before any more words could be shared, two masked figures appeared both behind and in front of Anko and Naruto.

The one in front of Anko stood several inches above her. Though his face was unseen, his lopsided, messy silver hair was more than enough of a clue to tell her who he was. If he was who she knew he was, then her first guess as to who the other masked agent was would be her only guess.

Anko turned to look at the other ANBU agent. Though slightly taller than Anko herself, the woman's long purple hair was a dead giveaway. Anko may have had a similar color of hair, but the agent's hair was a far more vivid shade, gleaming in the last light of the day.

"Alright everyone. Weapons down and get back to your lives. The party stops here" The white haired ANBU announced. His dog-esque mask hid his prying eyes away from the world. He and the other agent watched as the group dissipated, leaving only the three adults, the blonde child, and the dead body of Mizuki.

(music end)

"So, you're the security detail." Anko looked at the two ANBU agents. Her arms crossed over one another. Huffing, she glanced at the body of her former client. She guessed he didn't get a happy ending. "Just two? I assumed with such a high priority kid there'd be more than just two ANBU in his shadow."

The silver hair one looked to Anko. In the time that it took for him to turn around, he had pulled out a small orange book about the size of his hand and had begun to read it. "He only needs two when they're the best on the forc-"

"Don't give me that shit Kakashi. You and I both know you'd rather get off to that book than protect him." Anko scowled at him.

The purple haired agent couldn't help but giggle at the treatment her partner was getting. As fun as it was to see Anko riled up, they had a child to deal with. "We were lead around the village, every time we thought we found Naruto it was just some kid in a getup. You know Inu just doesn't use his eyes whenever and wherever."

"But Kakashi could have." She retorted angrily. "That eye of his is a McGuffin if I've ever seen one. He could have found the real kid in an instant."

Kakashi sighed. His hand rose over the dog mask, pinching the nose of the mask. "We're on duty Anko, can you please use our code names?" He sighed once more. "And we all know that it doesn't work like tha-"

"No I don't!" Her retort was angry and lacking of any sort of care. "You've insisted on keeping that mask on, even when I've told you that it'd be way better if you didn't!" Anko could hear the other agent doing her best to keep her laughter silent. Anko pointed an accusing finger at the woman in question. "Don't you start Yugao." She ordered. "Or is it Neko? I can never tell when to use what name because you're too busy cleaning those swords of yours to give me an answer!"

Yugao was quick to stop laughing. In the many years that the two had known each other, Anko had more than enough dirt to bury her six feet under in an instant. Yugao was never at a position to retaliate with her own leverage due to Anko's nature to find a way to own up to any and all accusations against her, making anything she learned useless as blackmail.

"The two of you are lucky I'm such a good friend, or Dolphin would have one hell of a field week with each of you." Anko didn't need to use a harsh tone or accusing eyes or level fingers at them to get them to straighten up. Even the mention of passing along information to one of the fastest upstart ANBU captains was enough to scare even Kakashi.

"N-n-now Anko..." Yugao did her best to calm her friend down. Two arms raised in defense against the verbal attack, hoping to assist her words to her friend. "N-n-no need to be hasty, here. Dolphin doesn't n-n-need to know of what we do in our off time, and really. We were looking for Naruto. He's just slippery, and so are the people here." She could hear the small intake of air that Kakashi sucked in and pointed a finger in his diection. "Don't you start, I'm trying to save us and you certainly aren't helping."

Kakashi remained silent. He didn't care one way or the other, but he didn't like the fact that Anko had brought up his personal preferences. Yugao didn't need to know that he had his mask on for everything.

Anko smirked at Yugao, her devilish brown eyes piercing her unseen ones. "Don't worry Yugao, your preferences will be safe with me. I'm not sure that Dolphin would want to know that you tried to replace l-"

"That is enough!" Yugao spoke up quickly and loudly to overshadow anything that Anko had been planning on saying in front of Kakashi and a possibly unconscious boy.

With Naruto in mind, Yugao finally looked to him to check up on him. She knelt down beside him. Her left knee touched the ground as she bent forward to check him.

His body was covered in both dried and still wet blood. His clothing was torn and showed areas that were clearly slashed or stabbed with weapons. His breathing was slow and deep, his eyes heavy but not completely closed. His head occasionally dipped to the side before springing back, but his eyes never closing nor opening further than they were.

Yugao carefully picked him up into her arms. The time between him laboring between life and the cold embrace was taking longer and longer each time.

"He's drifting in and out of consciousness." Yugao stated. It was quick for her to realize that his condition was not getting any better. "He's fading!" Her head turned to look at Kakashi, who now stood at her side. "We should move him to the hospital as quickly as possible."

"Well." Anko spun on her heel and stepped away from the masked duo and boy. "I'll let you handle that. It sounds like a you problem."

Anko couldn't get far before Kakashi blocked her from moving forward, his arms spread wide to stop her. "Oh no." He shook his head. "You saved him. You're a part of this now!" He grabbed Anko's hands and spun her around, holding them behind her back and keeping her still. His mask turned to Yugao and Naruto, the latter of which was cradled in Yugao's arms. "Neko. You take Naruto to the hospital and meet us at the tower."

-scene break-

"And that's what happened."

Anko, Kakashi, and Yugao all stood in the darkened room of the leader of the village of Konoha, the Hokage himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The three all stood in the center of the room and in front of the desk that was currently being occupied by Hiruzen.

The old man was quiet. Looks were not everything, but the pensive and thoughtful look he displayed aged him decades older than he already was. The red and white robes he wore shone easily in the moonlight behind him, as did his hat of the same color scheme.

"I trust that he is in his ward?" His words carried infinite patience and understanding. The nod he had received from Yugao caused him to smile at them all. "Then that is all I require of you two. You are dismissed."

In an instant, the two ANBU agents flickered out of the room, leaving only Anko and the village leader.

Anko could only stand there uncomfortably. She was not too skilled in how to act in front of figures of great importance, despite what her job may have required of her. The room weighed heavy with the radiant energy of power and stilled rage. Even to the day, Hiruzen's appearance did not display the amount of power he held within.

"Anko," Hiruzen called her name aloud. Even with his old and frail words, each word carried power and authority. His new shift in tone heavily betrayed his withered appearance. "I cannot thank you enough for what you've done. Naruto means so much to me."

Anko did not answer. Too many questions plagued her mind now that Hiruzen had expressed how much Naruto meant to him. The silence continued for several minutes until Anko finally chose to end the lack of sound.

"If he means so much to you, why don't you just keep him at your clan house? Or even here?" She looked quizzically around at the room around her. "Nobody in the village would even think about harming him if the Hokage himself had a soft spot."

Even in his old age, even with his aged and withering body, Hiruzen Sarutobi was not a man to make an enemy out of. He was known as the God of Shinobi for a good reason. In his prime, he had mastered the use of all five of the basic nature transformation, and had been noted to have been the strongest Hokage out of the four that had been in office.

Hiruzen smiled at the girl. She was hardly an adult, even if she was seen as such officially for having ninja training and her own forehead protector. He knew her more than anyone else, even if she wasn't aware of it. Her teacher was his student a lifetime ago.

"My dear, as much as I would love to, there are more forces acting against me than I would like to disclose." He looked down at his desk, his eyes shifting to gaze upon anything that wasn't Anko. "I could. The Inuzuka clan has also made an offer to take in the boy, but I have no choice but to say no. He means so much to me, and I am doing all I can to keep him safe, but more harm would be attracted to the village if I placed him in the care of my son, Asuma, or any of the other Sarutobi clan members."

Anko couldn't help but to let out a grunt of dissatisfaction. He was the all-powerful village leader who was scared of his own villagers. He may have been old, but he was still strong. He could make anyone in the village snap to attention in the blink of an eye, so what did he have to fear?

"I'll make sure to reward you for your service today, Anko." Hiruzen finally looked back at the girl on the other side of his desk. "What do you say, S-rank pay for an S-rank target? And a little bonus because I care about him."

Anko choked on air. That was a damn great deal of money that her leader was just casually placing on the table. It was more than enough for her to live comfortably for a few months at the very least. "Um... Thank you, Hokage." She wasn't quite sure how to act. She shifted her weight onto one leg, her hands burying themselves into her pockets. She pulled her trench coat closed, keeping her mesh shirt and skirt from being seen. "Is there anything else you need of me?"

"No, that is all." Hiruzen shook his head. "Go and get some rest. It's been a long evening, and I apologize for Kakashi having put handcuffs on you to bring you here."

Anko bit her tongue. The words that almost escaped her lips were too much for the Hokage to hear. "I'll just be going then." Anko spun her body as far as she could so she could continue keeping eye contact with Hiruzen. "Kakashi and Yugao can find me pretty easily. You can just call them if you need a witness statement or anything."

Hiruzen chuckled to himself. "Thank you, but I don't think that will be required. Have a good evening, Anko."

Anko turned fully to the door, walking out and stepping out of the room with little else to say to the village leader. There was nothing more to tell, and she certainly wasn't going to disclose what she had been doing prior to finding him, only that she stumbled onto the scene.

She didn't bother taking the right turn into the building to move in the direction of the hospital. Kakashi and Yugao had everything under control. There was no need for her to step in or see to anything. She wasn't going to affect the outcome of whatever was happening in the hospital. She had already done enough by straightening out her two ANBU friends, and that was enough good for one week. She didn't even give Hiruzen's Secretary a passing glance, knowing that her eye contact would be rewarded with a glare in return.

She wasn't on her way home just yet, though. Her attention was brought back to a certain former client of hers.

He still owed her money.

Anko had been to Mizuki's house on more than one occasion in the past. Her house, his house, her personal room behind her building of operation, the location didn't matter to her or him.

It wasn't an impressive house by any means, nor was it a hovel. It was a simple home, dark in color and design, and compact in the event that he had to move on a dime.

The lock to the door broke easily with the help of a kunai. Anko knew how to use her tools in more ways than one way, and it often helped her in any situation; personal or general.

The door flew open with a kick of Anko's foot. The door slammed into the wall and creaked back forward. Anko's hand ensured that the door would stop moving. She stepped in as if she owned the place, looking around with her careful eyes for any sort of signs of a money stash.

Simple browns and grays covered the house and all that was in it. She didn't see why he didn't add more color, but each person had their own tastes and opinions. Mizuki's bedroom had a small splash of color added to it, but nothing that stood out.

Anko looked in the bedroom. She turned the whole house upside down and took all of the money that the dead man had. It was a surprising amount, given how much he spent on her and her girls, but nothing too surprising. What did surprise her was the multitude of letters addressed to Mizuki without names attached to them. They all used the same perfect handwriting and details, but none of it reminded her anything of anyone that Anko knew in Konoha. They lacked any sort of symbol or defining mark that would help her, but she did find that each of the letters seemed to reply to something that Mizuki had written first. No names were mentioned, everyone in the letters were either a "He", a "She", or "They".

They weren't important to her, but the ANBU and the police force were going to have a fun time with all of the strange and mysterious things about Mizuki and his home, notably the lack of any semblance of money in the premise.

Maybe she would confer with her friends on their findings when ANBU cleared out the home. At the moment, she didn't care what was done with the house, as she had all of the money that he previously owned. There were no signs of a bank account existing to him at all. All of the money he had was stashed around the house in various places, making it worth another S-ranked job.

Anko could retire with Mizuki's money alone.

Anko woke up the next morning as well as she could. There wasn't a night that went by without her dreams being plagued by dark whispers and horrible yellow eyes. Even with so many years since then, those slitted eyes still sent shivers down her spine.

Her eyes snapped open, her breathing loud and heavy as her body shot forward to sit upright in her bed. Her chest heaved, her heart pounding to its own beat. Sweat covered her body as she calmed down from the never ending nightmare that was sleep.

Her room was nearly pitch black. The long, dark blackout curtains kept any sort of light from getting in, only the faint glow of light from the edge of the curtains illuminated her room only slightly.

She didn't dare touch the curtains. Her bedroom was filthy enough without any light helping her excellent eyes. She didn't need to see the fruits of her labors at any time of day.

Anko dressed as she normally did. Her closet contained many different outfits picked out by her friends who insisted she needed less provocative clothing, but twice as many mesh shirts and orange skirts filled the space.

She finished her morning rituals and ate a short breakfast. Her kitchen, surprisingly, was the only room with any sort of cleanliness to it. The dishes were always washed, the fridge was normally stocked with leftovers and assorted alcoholic drinks, and her stove was almost untouched. She never had a big breakfast, just enough to get her to lunch.

Anko twisted the knob to her front door and attempted to push the door open. However, some sort of weight on the other side was keeping her from opening her door at all. Whatever it was, it was too short for her to see through the viewing hole.

Gritting her teeth, Anko shouldered the door and forced it to open, whatever was blocking her be damned.

"Ow!"

When the door flew open, Anko was able to see what had been keeping her door from opening. She knew it was at least thirty five pounds, given how hard she had to push to force the door open.

What she didn't know was that it was a person.

The boy who had been flung forward with just a woman and the opening force of a door tumbled forward.

Anko's eyes widened upon seeing the little blonde boy roll and slow to a halt. "Shit!" She yelled in his direction. "Kid, what are you doing?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and let out a pained groan. "Ow..." He let out once more with a groan. "Why'd you do that? I was napping."

"Why were you sleeping against my door?" She answered his question with one of her own, looking down at him. Where were his two guards? How long had he been out of the hospital? "Why are you here?" She attempted to stop herself, but all was in vain. She had already asked the question, and there was no longer any way for her to make it sound any less mean than it was.

Naruto looked up at the woman with his sparkling blue eyes. The world around them was already bright compared to Anko's room, but his shining eyes made it even brighter.

"Your door was closed. So I napped here."

"You can't just sleep against a door; someone's eventually going to open it! Like I just did."

"But then where am I gonna sleep?"

Anko stilled her reply. "When did you get here?" She asked him carefully.

"I...dunno." The boy shrugged. Something told Anko that he had received only the most basic form of education. Accumulating knowledge was not difficult in a village like Konoha. People were always outside, enjoying themselves, talking, doing things that impressionable people like Naruto could catch onto. "It was still dark when I left."

Anko did not take any time speaking back to him in a quick and orderly manner. She waited patiently for him to hopefully continue talking so they could both be on their way.

But it did not happen.

Ten minutes of pure silence passed and neither one of them looked away from one another. Anko finally decided to speak up and break the silence that settled between them.

"So?" She asked, her hands moving to her words. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

Naruto looked up at Anko with his shiny blue eyes, as bright as the sky itself and as vast as the ocean. He cracked a smile as he stood up right in front of her.

"You saved me."

Surprise was the very base emotion that Anko felt in regards to what Naruto had just told her, among others. She didn't believe that he was conscious when she finally did something about the problem. His vitals were apparently dropping when Yugao finally got around to assessing him.

She said nothing, but simply watched as the boy neared her with open arms and wrapped them around Anko's legs. She could feel him squeezing her legs to the best of his abilities. She bent over ever so slightly to hug him back. It wasn't as if she perceived him as delicate or fragile in any way, but she didn't normally hug people out of kindness, or just hug people in general.

When he finally let go of her legs, Anko did the same to Naruto's body. He continued to smile up at her, his silent thanks undoubtedly reaching her.

It wasn't long until Yugao and Kakashi appeared in front of Anko's house, still fully dressed in their black and grey ANBU uniforms and masks.

"See? I told you he'd be here." Yugao looked to Kakashi triumphantly. The revitalizing feeling of victory laced through her words. "You know the deal."

Kakashi sighed. Though he couldn't escape his fate, he could talk to Anko and Naruto to prolong them knowing about whatever had been going on beforehand.

"So, how long has he been here?"

"How long have you been looking for him?" Smarmy wasn't enough to truly express the level of sarcasm and sass that was delivered in that single sentence. Given the unkempt appearance of both of the agents, it was safe for her to say that they had been searching for him for at least a few hours, searching every nook and cranny of the village to bring him back to the Hospital before the Hokage inevitably came in to check up on him.

It was easy to tell just by Anko's previous conversation with Hiruzen that hell would surely break loose if something happened to Naruto not even a full day after he had been beaten and attacked.

Kakashi didn't reply. He looked off into the distance to avoid the topic, though he knew that Yugao was staring directly at him with no intention of looking away. After a moment of silence and a labored sigh, he finally responded.

"Three in the morning."

Anko laughed like she had heard the funniest joke on the planet. Her eyes watered and her sides hurt, but nothing was going to stop her from enjoying Kakashi's mistake.

"You mean..." Anko bent forward and set her hands on her knees. "You mean to tell me, that you've been looking for him..." She chuckled once more, losing the strength to keep calm. "For six hours? How can you be that bad at your jobs that you lose a kid, a KID, and can't find him in one village for six whole hours?"

She laughed again. It became so bad that she toppled over onto the ground in her ongoing fit of laughter.

Yugao said nothing to Anko or Kakashi, instead deciding to lift Naruto up to his feet and kneel down to his level.

"How did you find this place, Naruto?" She asked him in a calm and polite tone. Had she not been on duty, her mask would have been removed to get a better connection with the boy; though she believed that Naruto had a better connection with her mask than Yugao herself.

"I asked." His reply was simple and quick. He looked into the black eye holes of the mask, almost as if he could see her actual eyes through the one way fabric. "I asked for the person that saved me and then I found out it was a lady. So I asked for the lady that saved me, and a bunch of people looked a little scared and told me to go to this one place."

"You didn't go here first?" Yugao tilted her head in confusion before the realization hit her, but it was far too late for her to interject as Naruto began to speak again.

"Yeah." He nodded to her. "I went to this place and it was closed, but there were people on the ground and on the couches and stuff. One of the guys told me that the lady who saved me was called Anko, so I asked to see Anko, but he told me that she wasn't around and that a little kid shouldn't be in a club for adults. So he said go to the tan house with the little porch. I knew what he was talking about because it looked nicer than the other houses over here."

Yugao could see that Naruto's breath was labored as he tried to remain as still as possible. "Naruto?" She asked carefully, her hand slowly reaching to pull up his shirt.

Naruto moved his hand to stop hers from touching him. He shook his head at her and continued to remain calm. "I'm fine. I'm all healed up."

Kakashi appeared behind Naruto with his inhuman speed and pulled up Naruto's shirt to inspect his back. "What a lie." Kakashi sighed. He cast a noticeable glance to Anko, who quickly moved to keep Naruto still as the two ANBU looked over his now exposed torso. "He's still marked up. We should take him back to his ward."

Anko released the boy carefully and backed away. Kakashi's tone made it seem as if this was something unusual, but even she knew that the fox hunts were nothing new. She simply stood there and watched Yugao and Kakashi take Naruto back to the hospital. If her guess was right, he was focusing on channeling and blocking all of the pain to try and make a break for it.

What was so strange about him still bearing wounds?

Days went by since Naruto had appeared at Anko's house for the first time. Every day after that, at random times throughout the day, Naruto had shown up and sat on Anko's porch, waiting for her to return. He was never allowed inside, and he was fortunate enough to not have arrived during her business hours, but he always found a way to escape his security detail to see her.

Sometimes they would talk to one another on her porch. Sometimes she'd play some card games or even let him throw a kunai or two. Eventually, Kakashi and Yugao would find him, graze his wrist, and then take him back. She knew the truth, though. The two agents should have known where to look after the first time that it happened, but each time he escaped, they would appear after an hour or two of Anko spending time with him. They let him get away, and they let him have some time out, even though they did stress that his wounds would not get any better if he kept moving around.

Anko walked through the front doors to the Hokage's tower and stopped at the secretary's desk.

Her narrow glasses hung on the edge of the Secretary's nose, angled as such to be able to look at the magazine in her hands without having to tilt her head or raise the paper. She had dark black hair that was put up in a bun in the back and two long strands of hair descended from her bangs and were pulled back to connect to the bun.

Her onyx eyes lazily looked up to Anko, her mouth unmoving and her eyes uncaring. She only had to glance at her to tell that she was one of those who lived in the Red Light District of the village.

"I believe you're in the wrong building." She stated. "The strip clubs are back in the Red Light District."

Anko looked down at the woman. She had the audacity to insult her and not even bother to welcome her in. "Excuse me, Kaori, is it?" She smiled a sickeningly sweet smile. "I have to talk to our beloved Hokage. I have some important business with him."

Kaori huffed and set her book down with a single hand, her other hand pushing up her glasses further on the bridge of her nose. "How do you know my name _, Redlighter_? You were lead in here a few days ago by the ANBU, but you don't have any excuses today."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I completely forgot that your husband asked me and my girls to pretend as if we had never heard of you, your husband, or your... _child_." She feigned an expression of surprise. "Oh! I totally forgot that too. It isn't _his_ , is it?" Anko smirked and flicked the lobes of her ears. "I hear a lot, even if I'm not the one listening in on the conversation."

In her angry and flustered state, Kaori was unable to see Anko slip past her and enter the doors that led up to the Hokage's office located at the top of the stairs.

Anko strode up to the office and gave the door a solid knock. The faint voice inviting her in was all she needed to open up the door and walk inside. She only needed the fleeting shine of an orange covered book being shoved underneath Hiruzen's desk to know what he had been reading for the day. She didn't blame him in the least. It was a good series, but the dumbass who wrote it obviously needed a few educational classes on what was and wasn't considered being a stalker.

"Anko." Hiruzen smiled at the girl, stifling a quick cough as he blew out some smoke. "It's good to see you again. Can I help you with something?" He glanced down at the scroll lying on his desk and slid it to the side. "I don't have a lot of time, but I'm sure that I can help."

Anko bowed to the leader of her village. "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about Naruto."

Hiruzen chuckled. "Yugao came clean. She and Kakashi let Naruto sneak away after the first time so he could have some air outside. I've been told that you're taking care of him?"

Anko choked on air. Though she should not have been, Anko found herself being surprised by the fact that Hiruzen knew that Yugao and Kakashi had been intentionally slacking on their jobs, even more; he did not punish them at all for doing so.

Hiruzen laughed once more. "What about Naruto would you like to talk about?"

She shifted somewhat uncomfortably, refusing to speak for a moment. "Um...you kinda already addressed the topic." Her laugh was nervous and shaky. "When was Naruto cast out from the Orphanage?"

Hiruzen tapped his chin in thought. "He is six now, no?" He muttered rhetorically before looking at Anko with a nod. "It's been two years since Grelod the Kind cast Naruto from the orphanage. Three since the start of the Fox Hunts."

"Then why hasn't anyone done anything?" Anko did her best to hold back her growl. "I know you can't, but what about the other clans? The Inuzuka would take in a stray like him in a heartbeat. I'm sure that Chouza and his wife would love another kid."

Hiruzen smiled. Her thoughts were in the right place, but for one reason or another, none of the clans were in the position to raise Naruto. Maybe the Akimichi clan, with Chouza and his wife who had more than enough love to go around, but it was simply something that they could not do at the current moment.

The civilian half of the council had been grubbing power and stance for the last few years, slowly edging on Hiruzen's Hokage Powers throughout the years. The fourth Hokage, who had lead the village after Hiruzen stepped down to retire, had stopped the council from gaining power, even reclaiming many of them, but their actions had resumed after his death when Hiruzen took the title of Hokage once more.

"I am doing all I can Anko. He has a house, electricity, water, basic amenities, and a weekly stipend to pay for things he might want. I just can't directly take him in." He sighed, tapping the large hat that sat on his head. "We are Ninja, Anko. Sometimes subtlety is the best way to go."

Anko understood, but there was still more that the Hokage could do. There were sympathizers outside of the Red Light District, she was sure. Hiruzen could get someone to teach and train him, and if anyone asked, they decided to help Naruto out of good faith. She knew he was doing his best to manage Naruto and the growth of the civilian council, but she deemed that it simply was not good enough.

It was unfortunate that there were no clans that existed within the Red light District. Had there been some minor clan or something similar, Anko was sure that they would have the political freedom to do as they pleased without any repercussions from the others. There was no such thing as a Mitarashi Clan, filled with scoundrels such as herself to look after the boy.

She presumed that the district itself was like a functioning clan, in a way. There was no main family, but there were people with the most influence in the area, and everyone worked in one form or another to keep money circulating. Since the district worked like it did, in such a way to resemble a clan of its own, all she needed to do was bring attention to Naruto and his condition and the Redlighters would be sure to help.

Anko smiled, her plan relayed to the Hokage in hopes of a penny for his thoughts.

"It could certainly work that way." Hiruzen nodded to the girl. He could see her point of view, and knew surprisingly the inner workings of the micro-state that was the district. "I am fully aware of your influence in the area, and am sure that with enough help, you can get the district in full to help you."

Her smile widened only briefly. The look on Hiruzen's face was all she needed to see to know that he was keeping some information from her.

His look was remorseful, melancholic even. It was a sad smile as he closed his eyes, his head tilting down ever so slightly.

"Anko." His words matched his sad face. "After you killed Mizuki, I had the police force investigate his house, and clean it out. He didn't have any living family, so everything he owned would go to the village."

Anko snapped to attention. She didn't keep it a secret that she killed him, but she did find it strange that Kakashi did not arrest her on the spot for killing him. "Why are you telling me this? And why conduct a full investigation if you were just clearing it out? You could just send your cheating office slave down stairs to go do it or make her send some people."

His once sad smile turned into a knowing smirk. Hiruzen tilted his head back up and tapped his forehead. "I've always had one reason or another to question Mizuki. Though Dolphin has refused to acknowledge it, he is aware that Mizuki had been tailing him for quite a while, even before he joined the ANBU."

"They were friends, I knew that much." Anko commented. Though nobody else knew it, Anko had known Dolphin for a number of years. He graduated in the class behind hers, and even had help from her when she graduated just two years after being promoted to Genin.

Almost immediately after he had been promoted to Chunin, Dolphin had joined the ANBU, and rose to the rank of captain rather quickly, surprisingly fast even. He was surprisingly strong for having just graduated from Genin just a year before. Anko had her suspicions that he was training as much as he could and was already at a Jonin level by the time he took the exams.

Anko held down her tongue, stopping her mouth from forming any and all words that would have escaped. Her thoughts were with whom Mizuki had been talking too, but she was sure that the Hokage would not have enjoyed the fact that she had conducted her own search without him or his ANBU knowing.

"They found letters addressed to nobody, but Dolphin believes that the letters were sent to a dead drop location that only Mizuki and the unknown recipient knew about. Wherever that location is or was, we do not know." The Hokage himself, in his near infinite wisdom, refrained from telling Anko who he believed the unnamed man or woman on the other end could have been. He had his suspicions, but nothing could be confirmed through cold, hard, evidence.

Anko wondered what else he knew, but unless she was going to call him out on things that she may or may have not done, which would result in implicating herself, she was going to keep from poking around too much.

Hiruzen returned Anko's silence with some of his own. His hand reached below the desk to pull out a drawer. His hand ruffled through it, clearing out a small area to reach even further in. If Hiruzen leaning even further to reach into the drawer was of any significance, Anko believed that he was pulling from some secret area of the desk.

When his hand returned, it was holding a worn and dusty bottle of unknown contents. Whatever marking was on the front of it had been through thick and thin, and whatever it was, what remained of the red marking was completely unidentifiable to her.

"In times like these, this bottle is what gets me through a day." He pulled out the smallest shot glass Anko had ever seen and looked up at the girl. "Would you care for some?"

Anko looked at the glass in disbelief. "That little thing? I'll need a container bigger than that bottle to get me buzzed." Her words made Hiruzen smile, even chuckle a bit, as he poured her some of the black liquid to the brim of the cup. His free hand motioned for her to take a swig, which she did proudly.

Her vision had gotten blurry even before she had gulped it down. A rule of thumb was to drink it so fast that the smell wouldn't be able to reach her nostrils, but it was far more potent than she could have ever imagined.

The last thing she remembered was Hiruzen's faded and distant laugher, paired with the blurred image of him drinking straight from the bottle.

Anko groaned heavily. Her own eyes refused the command to open and her head pounded relentlessly. She could feel that she was on something soft and comfortable, a couch or something similar she believed. Her head lay back on one of the arms. Slowly, the light penetrated her eyelids and forced them to open, the shining sun blaring into the room like an angry light.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well."

Even with her head pounding and clouded, she could recognize the old and powerful voice of Hiruzen. She returned his greeting with another groan. Her vision, though still blurred, was enough to make her vaguely aware of her surroundings.

She was still in the Hokage's office, she could tell by the sight of him still sitting in his chair as if nothing had happened.

What had happened?

She attempted to move, resulting in another pained groan. Her body burned all over at the slightest movement, and her headache did not help in the least.

"Dolphin." The Hokage commanded.

The ANBU dropped down from the ceiling and held out a cup of water for Anko, waiting for her to graciously take it before jumping back into the shadows of the corners of the office.

She drank the water without hesitation, gulping it down as if it were the last glass of water she was ever going to have. Her headache refused to let up any, as if the Hokage himself was using all of his abilities to escape from her skull. Her hand reached up to pull her hair out of her ponytail. A deep and low groan escaped her now wetted lips. She was thankful for the water, but it still wasn't enough.

Hiruzen chuckled at Anko. Though he hated paperwork, he continued to sign his name and stamp the papers accordingly, taking enjoyment out of Anko's misery.

"You're handling it much better than any of the others I've seen." He complimented her, resulting in another groan.

"What the hell was that?" She asked in dry agony. "I've never had something so strong. What time is it by the way?"

"Eight in the morning." Hiruzen responded, his smile growing ever wider.

Yet another groan was let out, this time in relief rather than pain. "Oh thank god." She muttered to herself. "It's only been ten hours." Hiruzen's chuckle forced her to turn her head to him, wondering what he was laughing about. "What's so funny?"

"I wouldn't quite say that, at least not exactly anyway." He said to her. "It's been a little more than ten hours."

She didn't quite understand what he meant. Her confused look was more than enough to confirm to him that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"It is Tuesday, Anko." he stated simply.

Had Anko still been drinking the glass of water, all of it would have been spat out in disbelief in a comical spit take worthy of a picture for blackmail. "Tuesday?!" She asked in alarm. "It's been almost a week! What the hell happened?!"

Hiruzen laughed once more, heartier and lighter than before. "You had the first taste of a whiskey bottle that hadn't been touched in decades. Not the first bottle of the batch, mind you, but the most important one to be sure."

"I don't care about the bottle, Lord Hokage." Anko slowly sat up with fire in her veins; though she was glad she sat up slowly, if the dizziness was anything to judge by. "I just want to know what I've been doing for the past five days."

Another laugh from Hiruzen. A tear was wiped from his eye from all of his laughter. He was definitely enjoying her misery, Anko decided with a glare.

"The first two days were something to remember." He looked back on the past several days with a grin. "You were quite...insistent...that you were going to take Naruto home, officially or otherwise, and, I quote you now as saying, 'Raise him to be the baddest badass he deserves to be.'" He laughed again. "I didn't get you the papers to take him home though. I wouldn't want you to make such a decision like that while drunk."

Her heart raced. "What else did I do?"

The laughter did not end from Hiruzen. "You held Naruto hostage in the Hospital, demanding to the nurses that they let you take him home." He took a sip from his own glass, sighing in pleasure from the clean, clear, cold water. "Inu and Neko had to fight you to let him go, though they were heavily injured in the battle."

"Anything else?" Anko groaned holding her head in her hands. She wondered what she had done to her business or any of her other clients during her heavily hammered state.

"You passed out. Slept for the remaining three days, and here we are." He explained to her with a smirk. "You are...violent, when you're drunk. Flirtatious as well."

"Please don't tell me I tried hitting on you..." Anko groaned. Nothing could make her more uncomfortable than the thought of a completely and utterly hammered Anko trying to get busy with the leader of the village. Older men were nothing new to her. Some of the richest clients, even those outside of the village, were on the older side, wishing to feel you and be revitalized by being around young, beautiful, and energetic women.

Hiruzen shook his head in denial. "No, but Inu was one of the many who almost fell victim to your persuasions."

Anko was quiet against Hiruzen's words. She looked down at her legs and sighed.

The pen in Hiruzen's hand was set down, his eyes turning to look at Anko. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"He's a kid, Hokage." Her tone was soft and quiet, almost like she was twelve again. "He just showed up at my house one day because I did him a little favor and follows me around like a lost puppy."

Her head hung low, her now free hair falling over her face. She couldn't just tell a six year old to get lost. Not only was it more rudeness added onto the weight of the heavy world, but he would be sure to ask why, and she was not prepared to answer that question.

"It's not like I can just stop. Y'know?" She looked at him with pleading eyes, looking for the answer to her problems. The one step, easy fix that would make everything better. She was reminded of her own naiveté and fire as a child. The scene was nostalgic to Anko. Her sense of Deja Vu told her that it was not the first time that something similar had happened. "I just...How the hell am I supposed to do anything for this kid when I haven't even figured out any of the problems myself...?"

A hand reached up to graze the mark on the base of her neck. Surprisingly, it was the only thing on her body that did not burn. There was no feeling in that area of her neck. The pain the mark had caused had long since taken its toll on her, and still did from time to time. The nerve endings from the side of her neck to her shoulder had all but shut down, refusing to respond to anything but the highest of pains.

Hiruzen looked at Anko's hand. It was his fault that she was in the position that she was in. It was his fault that Naruto did not have any family, and it was his fault that he could do nothing to improve the village's view on either of them.

"You need time to sort all of this out, Anko. I will do my best to keep Naruto from visiting you as often so that you can do what you must. Talk to Kurenai, you know she is the motherly type."

Anko grunted. "I'm surprised she already isn't all over the kid. Her prude ass will never get her anywhere with Asuma." She muttered to herself, looking back down at the ground. "Maybe she's already detected my scent on Naruto and has forsaken him because I tampered with his innocence or something." She smiled to herself. Kurenai would have jumped at the chance to raise Naruto, especially after the Fox Hunts. She was always looking for some excuse to look lovely in front of Asuma without actually going up or talking to the man.

"Oh?" Hiruzen resumed with his paper signing and kept a look watch on Anko. She seemed to have been recovering from her hangover surprisingly well, but it was unsurprising to him. It was the fastest that he had seen anyone recover from a shot of the special whiskey, so it was of no surprise that she would be returning back to normal just as fast. "Well, I'll leave you to it, Anko. You always seem to make it out on top. Even if you don't realize it."

Anko nodded and took that as her goodbye. The Hokage probably had more important things to do than to sit around and listen to her all day.

Slowly, she rose from her seat on the couch and left the room with a bow.

She didn't need Kurenai. She was better off without that prude babying Naruto. There were talks of her taking the Hyuuga heiress under her wing; Anko knew that much from her more unique clients. Nothing was finalized, but Anko had never actually seen the heiress. She must have been sheltered from her nut of a father who overreacted from the event that happened three years ago.

Yugao and Kakashi were out of the picture for help. They were already following Naruto every hour of the day, and their orders were to only intervene if things got out of hand.

Anko walked alone through the streets of Konoha, her hands in the pockets of her trench coat. She was too busy to pull her hair back into a pony tail, instead choosing to focus on her growling stomach. Her favorite Dango shack was too far away for her to just get a quick meal, but another scent filled her nose.

She could smell the fresh broth from where she was standing, and allowed her body to be pulled towards the scent without restraint or hesitation.

It was a small counter top hidden behind a curtain. The scent only got stronger upon moving behind the curtain.

Anko took a seat and ordered a bowl from the little girl on the other side of the counter. She couldn't have been older the eleven or twelve, given her looks.

She ordered her food without any problems. The little girl was obviously on a stool of some sort to look over the counter fully, but she could cook just fine. In time, the food was delivered to her, and Anko began to chow down like there was no tomorrow.

She was too busy with her own food to notice the little blonde boy and the two masked agents beside him eating bowls of ramen as well.

Everybody loves Ramen.

Hello and welcome all to the story that will be replacing _Raising a Fox_ , _An Offer you Can't Refuse_. Now, this story, while fundamentally similar, if going to go in a different direction than _RaF_ did, it will be going different places, focusing on different characters, and fun stuff like that.

Hopefully Me and Ogre here can articulate why we chose to _scrap Raising a Fox_ and start this story instead. I'm sure you'll notice the size different between this chapter and the first for _RaF_ , but there are still a lot of things that we've yet to touch on that will be different. Hopefully you'll enjoy it was much as we enjoy writing it, so please Read, Rate, and Review for a better tomorrow! (Cheesy, I know.)


	2. Konoha's Central Perk

**Konoha's Central Perk**

It seemed like a completely random act, one that had just come out of the blue, and Hiruzen was forced to allow it to happen.

Three weeks had passed since Anko had last spoken to Hiruzen about Naruto. Three weeks since Anko had gotten a taste of bitter political struggles with a man against his own village and the villages surrounding.

"I don't understand it in the least." Anko huffed as she sat across from her two ANBU friends. "If Hiruzen fears him being weaponized, I don't see why he can't just put Naruto in some sort of safe place, especially during the Fox Hunt."

The three of them finally found time to talk to one another off-shift. Hiruzen had regulated shifts between multiple pairs of ANBU agents to watch over the boy, giving Yugao and Kakashi much more free time than before.

They had agreed to meet at a small cafe, taking time out of their days to talk to one another and converse about what had been going on.

Yugao, her head slipping out of her hands as she sighed, looked to Anko with a bored expression. "We told you. The Hokage knows that Danzo is still running ROOT. You know that alternate ANBU organization that is supposed to be shut down, but is still being run in the shadows. If Danzo sees a locked door, he's going to open it. If Hiruzen puts Naruto in some confined space, you might as well be wrapping Naruto up in a gift box for someone to march in and take him while no one is looking." Her hands straightened out and cut through the air with her words, trying to get the point across to Anko.

Kakashi sighed and turned the page in his book, not bothering to look at Anko. "Even with the entire force guarding him, if we had Naruto locked up somewhere for a long time, we've just created this problem where all it takes is a straight shot into his room to get to him, then every ANBU only has one way to get into the room." He dragged his thumb across mask as if to lick it before swiping to the next page of his book. "Danzo is crafty, and so are his ROOT agents. They've gone this long, I'm sure that getting to Naruto and killing ANBU as they funnel into a room wouldn't be a difficult task.

"And it doesn't even need to be ROOT. Any of the other villages could do the same thing, provided they have the Intel." Yugao cut back in and took a sip of her team.

"Okay." Anko relented. "Why can't we just get him the training that he needs so he'll scare away the spies and attackers? He has the most powerful tailed beast inside him, I'm sure he'll be a powerhouse."

The two were quiet on that subject. She had, without a doubt, stumped them in logic, and waited triumphantly for them to cook up an answer for her.

The truth was, they could have easily trained him themselves, having been assigned to observe and protect him. Very little sympathized with Naruto, but Kakashi and Yugao did, and they would have taught Naruto just as well as anyone else. With Anko in the mix now, there was another possible teacher who had yet to actually teach him how to protect himself. While none of them knew about the Kyuubi's powers, they could have trained him without having to rely on the vile power of the fox, making him that much stronger if he ever did use it.

Neither had anything to say to Anko, and instead attempted to change the subject matter from their own shortcomings to something else.

"So, I'm assuming that means you still haven't had any luck with Kurenai?" Yugao asked Anko inquisitively. She would have spoken to Kurenai herself, but the problem was between Anko and Kurenai.

Anko chucked haughtily and shook her head at the two of them. "Oh no." Anko laughed to herself. "I tried talking to that prude, I really did, but she just turned away from me and scooped Naruto up in those dainty arms of hers." She took a sip of her own 'tea' and looked out the window.

"I swear. She was just waiting for me to tell her so it seemed like I was admitting defeat so she can feel so great about herself." Anko grumbled to herself.

"Anko." Kakashi breathed. "What did you do?"

"SHE!" Anko was tempted to smash her cup of 'tea' down on the table to make a point, but she rather enjoyed eating at the little cafe. "She, was the one who couldn't take a little joke! She let it get to her, and made it bigger than it was.

Yugao tried giving her friend some sympathy, but she could easily understand why Kurenai acted the way that she did. Kurenai was a chaste woman. She was much more careful of her body and who got to think about it than Anko, who flaunted her body and dirty promises all over the place. The two were as polar opposite as north and south, living on the furthest ends of the spectrum away from each other.

"But you know she's a little more sensitive than you are, Anko." Yugao attempted to calm her down. "Not to mention you run a...well, you run a brothel network, Anko. Kurenai is waiting for Asuma and is probably the purest ninja over the age of fourteen in this village." She paused, looking out the window briefly before looking back at Anko. She thought she had seen something out of the ordinary, but it was just a trick of the light. "How the two of you became friends in the first place is honestly beyond me."

Yugao never really knew how the two had become friends. Kakashi had a few thoughts here and there as to how it happened. The two were separated by three years of age. Kurenai had graduated at nine years old, when Anko was six, and Anko had graduated when she was ten. Kurenai had already been a chuunin by the time that Anko had been promoted, and how they ever had time to even meet one another was beyond the two ANBU.

Before any of them could continue the conversation, their attention was brought to the widow next to them. Even Kakashi's attention was ripped from his book to see the small parade of ninja clad with armor from the desert.

"What are Suna nin doing here? We weren't informed of there being an envoy arriving." Yugao's agitation was thinly veiled by a calm and curious front. As respected as she and Kakashi were, they had heard nothing about a group of ninja from the fellow hidden village of Suna coming around.

There were at least seven of them acting as guards; six of them all dressed in the same tan flak jackets, bearing high collars and long shoulder pads. Each of their unique and different faces all held the same stone-still expression as they gazed endlessly ahead of themselves. The only one with any significant difference was the one leading the group. He seemed to have on a turban of some sort, blocking the left side of his face from gaze and the elements. Like the others, he took his job as seriously as he could, not letting the softness of Konoha get to him.

Through the small gaps in their formation, at least three figures walked, protected by the ninja from all sides. Whoever they were, they certainly weren't an ordinary envoy if they required that much protection.

It was only then that Yugao could make out one of the figures, standing tall, cloaked in white robes and a wide white hat. The only person it could have been was the leader of Suna, the Kazekage himself. A veil covered his face from all angles, revealing only his sharp eyes to the world. If any of the three had to assume who the shorter figures were, they would have guessed the Kazekage's children.

Kakashi and Anko were quick to catch on to the identity of the guarded trio. None of the three dared say anything in relation to it. None of them had ever actually seen the fabled Wind Shadow, the Kazekage's namesake, in action before, and none of them wanted to see it right now.

The three looked to one another in desperation, hoping that someone would waltz in and kick-start a conversation for them, but nobody had come to their rescue. They were left alone, wondering what the little ball of energy that had been on their minds was up to at this point in time.

* * *

Like Anko had told the ANBU agents, Kurenai did indeed have Naruto in her possession, caring for the little six year old boy tenderly in her own home.

The house was clean, almost disturbingly so. There wasn't a speck of dust out of place in the entire building, and every little detail seemed too picture perfect for any normal person to put together.

The two were sitting on her cream colored couch, Naruto's head lying in Kurenai's lap. Her fingers grazed over the whisker marks on his face, causing the boy to let out a contented purr of approval of the motion.

She wasn't quite sure if he was aware of the fact that he was purring, but the boy did seem to be completely zoned out by the petting of his whiskers. It was a shame that he had to meet Anko before he met her, but he was here with her now, and everything was great.

She recalled how earlier in the week that Anko had come to her looking for help, asking her to help her take care of Naruto because it was obvious to the both of them that she didn't know what she was doing. Kurenai's motherly instincts had already kicked in, having been helping Hinata Hyuuga, the heir to the Hyuuga clan, with her training and self-esteem issues. Helping Naruto, a little boy that was a ball of sunshine and energy, would be a piece of cake, especially since she knew how to harmlessly incapacitate him now.

Anko was still not on speaking terms with her. After one of Anko's crude jokes had gotten out of hand, Kurenai had taken enough of the borderline harassment and spoke her mind about the jokes. Anko knew that Kurenai didn't take all too well to them, turning into a blushing storm almost immediately after, but that didn't stop her from taking jabs about her desire to wait for the man of her dreams, Asuma Sarutobi. Despite the joke though, they both knew that the boy needed some comfort and loving in a world that didn't want him.

Kurenai was going to play Anko's game and not speak back to her unless it was absolutely required, and even then, she just took the weary Naruto back to her home to care of and look after. She hadn't been able to take any missions with Naruto in her care, but she had been able to put actual nutritious food into his stomach and even teach the little six year old a multitude of things, like treating women with respect, and that perverts were 'devils'. Just being with Naruto excited her about the prospect of being a parent of her own child some day.

The thought made her sad at the same time, knowing that she could only care for Naruto so much on her own, and knowing that she would eventually have to let him go.

Her fingers continued to rake across Naruto's whisker marks, looking down at him with a melancholic smile.

"Naruto?" She asked him quietly, her fingers slowing in pace. A low sound emanating from Naruto confirmed that he was able to understand her; or at the very least, be able to hear her.

"Has Anko done any training with you yet?"

* * *

"Well, while this is quite unprecedented, I cannot say that I mind your arrival in the least." Hiruzen smiled from across his desk, looking at his fellow Kage and his children, who stood on both sides of the door to his office. "What troubles you today, Kazekage?"

The Kazekage's gaze was hard and piercing, but not nearly enough to make Hiruzen so much as bat an eye at the deathly look. "That boy. Everyone in the Elemental Nations knows of Gaara's destructive power and bloodlust, but no such information seems to exist about your own, even within your walls."

Hiruzen was quick to catch on to what the Hokage was saying. Naruto, who contained the strongest of the Bijuu, the tailed beast, was nothing like the chaotic and bloodthirsty Gaara no Sabaku, who held within him the Ichibi, Shukaku.

Shukaku was the weakest of the nine tailed beasts in the world, but he was not to be underestimated. The One Tailed Tanuki hungered for blood and violence, manipulating his host to kill all that stood in his path, no matter whom the host may be, or who its victims were. His madness and insanity quickly took control of Gaara, who was essentially a tool to be used by the Kazekage and Shukaku both. While he may have not been the first host of Shukaku, Gaara was still seen as both the youngest son of the Kazekage, as well as the Tailed beast itself.

It was something that Hiruzen had even questioned himself. Why had the Kyuubi not broken Naruto's mind and spirit to make him a puppet of mass destruction? Why had the Kyuubi mysteriously withheld his power from Naruto during the final night of the Fox Hunt? Why did it seem that the most powerful of the Bijuu seemed to be the most dormant in terms of interaction with its host? Gaara, like many of the other existing hosts, had a connection to their tailed beasts, some of them being on kinder terms than others, surprisingly enough. Naruto was the only one who did not have a connection to his tailed beast other than the fact that the beast was sealed inside of him.

Hiruzen blamed himself for this, having not been able to save the Kyuubi's previous host, or anyone else who could help the boy with the immense source of power within him. Unfortunately, he was never able to save his successor from the tailed beast when it had been let out six years ago, and to this day, he continued to juggle assisting Naruto and keeping the entire village happy and functional all at once.

"It's a strange phenomenon, yes. I would suggest sending your youngest here to see if he would also calm down, but the village has already made its mind up about Naruto, and they will treat Gaara the same, or worse, given his reputation alone."

The Kazekage looked down at the ground, noting that, while Konoha did seem to be a much safer place for Gaara to hopefully calm his mind and tame his inner demon, the people of the village and their attitude towards people like him would only make him more of what Shukaku wanted. "You and I both know that your village doesn't value the Jinchuriki. They don't see Gaara as Gaara, but as the demon who inhabits Gaara's body. The same seems to go for your own. If anything, they will anger Gaara and he will attempt to kill them all."

They both knew it to be strange. Gaara held the weakest, but seemingly the wildest of them all, while Naruto handled the strongest yet most docile of the beasts. When taking into the massacre that had happened six years ago when the Kyuubi had escaped, it was a wonder that he had been so dormant these past years.

Hiruzen peered into the Kazekage's eyes, examining them for any trace micro expressions to give him a hint on what to say next. "I take it that you are having trouble with little Gaara, Rasa? Or have we not reached a first name basis yet?" He asked inquisitively.

Behind the Kazekage, young Temari and Kankuro no Sabaku guarded the door, standing still and looking straight past the Hokage and out the clear window to see the blue sky and the shining sun behind him. They children were separated by a year, Temari being the eldest of the three Sabaku siblings at age nine.

Neither of the children had become Genin yet, but Rasa believed that having them as additional security, on top of his pre-existing security detail would be good training for them for when they grew older.

Temari flicked her eyes to the Hokage upon hearing her father's name aloud. She hardly ever heard anyone call him anything other than the Kazekage, and just his name was enough to tell her that these matters went beyond just being a Kage.

She glanced to her slacker brother Kankuro, standing there at attention just like she was. The words of the conversation seemed to fade out as she wandered through her thoughts. Her youngest brother, Gaara, was hardly human in her eyes. She meant no disrespect, but his entire means of conception and use were monstrous in their own rights. Their father had to have known by now that sealing such a chaotic beast like Shukaku into a still forming child was a horrible idea.

Gaara was but a poor child, having his soul sitting underneath the weight of a monster that kept him from normalcy. Even though she didn't have much of a chance of that either, scaring other children away with just the aspect of her being the daughter to the Kazekage, but Gaara was much worse. Ever since the death of her uncle, not more than a few weeks ago, Gaara had been a completely new being, one fueled by the dark whisperings of the tailed beast within him.

She had tried, she really did, but her father had isolated the little boy and continued to ensure that he would drift away from the family. She attempted to console him and help him when possible, but ever since the death of their uncle, Gaara had been a completely new level of dark. He had even gone so far as to threaten her with death not more than a few days before they had left him in Suna.

"Temari, Kankuro." Her father's words had snapped her out of her thoughts, returning her mind to the physical plane of existence.

"Kankuro." He repeated in a louder tone. The boy seemed to have not noticed the first time around that their father was calling to him, and once his attention was to the Kazekage, he spoke once more. "As much as I would love you two to stay for the whole trip, you should be returning to Suna soon."

Neither said anything to their father, waiting for him to continue and give them permission to leave the Hokage's office and Konoha altogether.

"Enjoy Konoha for a few days. Baki will be with you and escort you back after a few days. I will be here in Konoha a little longer than you both."

Still, neither moved, waiting for their Kage to formally dismiss them. As they stood, Rasa smiled and nodded at the two. "You're free to go. Have fun." He watched as the two bowed, letting out a short "Yes, Kazekage-sama," before turning and leaving.

The doors opened, revealing that the turban wearing Suna ninja from before had been standing by the door, guarding the office and those inside of it.

Once they left, Rasa turned back to Hiruzen, looking down and smiling with melancholic memories passing through his mind.

Hiruzen returned the smile and looked at the same spot on the ground, knowing what was going through his head. He was a Kage, but also a father, and sometimes, even his own son forgot that he was more than just the leader of the village. Sometimes he himself forgot that he was a father to Asuma, but he still tried his best. He hoped that Rasa would have a better chance with his own children.

"How does he manage it?" Rasa finally broke the silence. Rasa knew that Naruto had a life that was comparably worse to Gaara's; Naruto didn't kill, but at the very least, Gaara's village acknowledged him as something, If the villagers did anything towards Naruto, it was out of hate, otherwise, he did not exist to them. Gaara, on the other hand, people could not stop talking about. They feared him and his power, knowing that he could and would kill people that got too close to him, both in proximity and emotionally. Gaara had a name as the child of Rasa, the Kazekage; Naruto had no known family to speak of. "Naruto is as old as Gaara, and yet, there is no news of him in Suna like there is news of Gaara in Konoha. He has the Kyuubi, so why hasn't it clouded his mind yet?"

Hiruzen raised a brow, but made no effort to discuss the matter that concerned him. "We believe that the fox is waiting. Other than Naruto's healing and regeneration, the Kyuubi seems to be dormant, not blessing Naruto with its power, nor cursing him with dark whispers. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to look into it; otherwise it would have already been done."

Rasa nodded. "Kumo would surely kill us if we tried talking to their Jinchuriki. It's unfortunate that they have the most control over their tailed beasts, while we have no control." His head lowered even further. He shouldn't have made the decision to have his youngest child weaponized before he was born, but it was too late to go back, so he had to follow through with it.

"Are you suggesting something, Rasa?" The Hokage looked up at the Kazekage, leering into his eyes with curiosity and caution, wondering what point he was trying to get to.

"I'm suggesting that we move both Gaara and Naruto to a safe area. I want Tanigakure, The Village hidden in the valleys, to play as neutral ground while the two train and develop there. They will train between our two countries, the heart of the area, if you will, and will return once they reach a certain level of skill."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly is in Tani that would assist the two so greatly? It is one of the smaller countries with a smaller hidden village, not participating in any of the ranking exams consistently. While it is small and quiet, and would attract little attention, we would both have to allocate resources from our own villages to monitor them safely, and it seems that we do not have enough people on either side for that to be done well."

The two locked eyes, Rasa standing before the Hokage's desk and looking down, examining everything he could about the old man, while Hiruzen did the exact same from his chair, looking up ever so slightly to look into his eyes.

"There has to be more than that." Hiruzen continued.

Rasa relented with a sigh. "There is." He breathed out. His eyes closed and his head dropped low briefly before being pulled back up. "Up in the north of the Land of Wind, close to the mountains, there has been activity of strange stone creatures wandering about. Any of my men who have tried to follow them have somehow lost track of the large creatures, and I was hoping to use this to do further investigations, having some of my men already out of the village and ready to find them to see where they are going."

Hiruzen pondered the offer, wondering who he could move to Tani with Naruto. There was Anko, who seemed to be like a sister to the boy, his primary guards Yugao and Kakashi, and now Kurenai, who had gone as far as to take him into her home like her own child. He would need more, if it was to happen, but he could not look into it too far just yet.

The Hokage shook his head. "I cannot move Naruto to Tanigakure now. There are too few who sympathize with Naruto to go with him, and I do not know how Tani will react to two Jinchuriki being moved in from other villages to train and harness their dangerous powers."

If _he_ happened to be there, or even worse, Orochimaru, Hiruzen could not allow Naruto to be placed too close to the scene. The graves themselves would open and drag him in with them, and the killing intent of a caring and dangerous mother loomed over him with the mere thought.

"I see." Rasa let out quietly. It could not be helped, he supposed. It would have been beneficial for them both, even Tanigakure if things went as well as he was hoping. However, Hiruzen needed more time and more supporters. Rasa could help a little by pulling some strings that he had threaded years ago, but not too much to raise suspicions.

Naruto would surely get a few more supporters by the end of Rasa's visit.

* * *

"Well, I'll meet you two back at the hotel suite." A young girl waved her hand dismissively at her brother and their guardian, getting looks of resignation from them both. Neither of them would be able to stop her from wherever she was going. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence either. Temari would always disappear for a few hours from time to time, being found leaving her room despite having exited the house from the front door. They wondered why she always returned home through her window rather than the way that she left, but they both knew that they would never get it.

She walked away from her brother and guardian, wandering the streets of Konoha, on the search for a rather specific type of store. Only she knew what she was trying to find, but as lost as she was, she could not get help from the villagers of Konoha. She was the daughter of the Kazekage clan, and she would not take directions from the locals. She should be able to find it on her own without much trouble.

A full hour of wandering the village had passed before she finally found it, and suffice to say, it was all she could have hoped for and more. The normally stoic girl was ecstatic to be in the shop, buying common items in Konoha that were a rarity in Suna. There were even colors and materials that her own village's store did not have available, only adding to her excitement.

She had asked for a discreet bag from the cashier, hoping that neither Kankuro nor Baki would be around to see her in the store or leaving it. Once everything was done, she walked out of the shop and looked around, pleased with herself and wondering where to go next.

Food. Food was next on her list, but what to eat? She wondered if she should attempt to find a place that served food more common to her, or if she should go and see what Konoha had to offer at its fullest.

She wandered the streets once more, her bag tucked carefully in her arms to further conceal it. People always seemed to make fun of her for the contents of the bag for the same reason that she had difficulty making and maintaining friends. Her father's status of Kage scared people away and raised other people's expectations of her, always having to act this way and do that thing to uphold their image of her.

Almost too fast for her to comprehend, a young blond boy had charged right into her, both of them falling on the ground a little more than a foot away.

Temari looked up to see a blonde mop of hair in the crook of her neck, connected to a little boy in what seemed to be a rather rugged black shirt. Before Temari was able to react to the boy, he scrambled off of her and jolted off, heading in the same direction he was moving in when they had collided.

When he turned his head back to look right through her, Temari was able to get a good look at his sparkling blue eyes, full of life and vibrancy as his sharp smile and narrowed brows made the boy look downright dashing.

It had taken her a second to collect her mind and her thoughts, quickly knitting her brows together in anger as she stood up and shook her free fist at him. "You may look like the fourth Hokage, but you don't seem to be nearly as smart as him!" She shouted. The girl stood still as two Anbu passed her from both sides, obviously on the hunt for the boy that had run into her.

She grumbled to herself as she picked herself up. The Anbu didn't even try helping her up, which she both did, and didn't, enjoy for the exact same reason. As the child of a Kage, who is known throughout the Elemental Nations, she should be one of the highest priorities on any village's ANBU's list. Who was that blonde haired boy that seemed to have an even higher priority level than her? Was his similar appearance to the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, more than just a coincidence? What if he was trying to escape his fate as the honorable son and the ANBU were sent to capture him?

"You're too slow!" He taunted, jumping and spinning back around forward and continued running away from the ANBU agents that were on his tail. She almost believed that it was for her, but upon seeing the ANBU, she knew that it was for them instead.

Whatever it was and whoever he was did not matter so much that she needed to know. She was just thankful that everyone on the streets didn't grovel at her feet, wishing her well on her way back to standing rather than actually helping her to her feet. Nobody back in Suna dared touch her if she were to fall, but would instead wish that she be well in her time on the ground.

She finally got up from the ground, grumbling to herself quietly and mostly within the confines of her mind. She needed to find a place to eat at, hoping that the little cafe that she had walked by earlier was still open. She had barely seen it through the cracks between her guards, but she believed she knew where it was nonetheless.

* * *

It didn't take too terribly long for her to find her way, moving back to a notable point and retracing her steps to find out where the cafe was. By that time, a new scene of people had moved in, and she didn't believe that anyone other than the employees were there when she had first passed it.

Sitting down, she was quickly greeted by a cheery young teen with bouncy black hair and a black uniform with a white tie that held three black circles inside. Her light skinned hand gently placed a menu down in front of Temari for her to look at. "What can I get you for today?" She asked happily, her words almost floating as she hummed and waited for the speechless Temari to make a decision.

"I...I don't know yet." She answered carefully. The teen then turned away and hopped to the next table, slightly worrying Temari about the girl's mental health and stability to be so cheery like that. Was everyone in Konoha so happy and carefree?

It had taken her some time, but Temari eventually, though hesitantly, hailed the waitress once again to place in an order for Kenchin soup, something her mother enjoyed cooking for her and Kankuro in a time that seemed like a lifetime ago.

She ate in silence, enjoying the different and familiar taste of the tofu-based soup as she relived memories of her younger years. She was only four when her brother was born, Kankuro was three, but they both retrained memories of much of the situation, no matter how young they were.

The thought almost brought tears to her eyes, but she was stronger than that. Steeling herself, she calmed herself down and switched thoughts.

Konoha was more involved as a civilian village than a hidden village, being much more lofty and comfortable then Suna could ever allow itself to be. The fact that the ANBU were anything other than just the Hokage's personal guard was somewhat worrying to her, though she did not delve into it too much. There should be another guard for handling village matters, while the ANBU was reserved for the Kage of their village, which was supposed to be it.

There was also the cheeriness of the waitress and so many other people around her that it was almost disturbing. How strong could the ninja of Konoha be if they all lived such peaceful lives? The training regiments of Suna ninja were strenuous enough, but as the daughter of the Kazekage, the expectations for her were ten times higher than that of a normal ninja in her village. Her father did label their trip a vacation, and he did give her and Kankuro permission to relax during their stay, but it still seemed as if Konoha should not have been a hidden village if it was this calm and peaceful all the time.

She assumed that there must be great ninja to protect this peace then, if the civilians could live this safely. Either that, or there were just so many ninja that there was no need to worry in the face of danger. Or, another thought struck her suddenly, perhaps there was a dark secret rotting at the 'root of the tree', and only those in power were aware of it, allowing the civilians to live peacefully while those in power dealt with that 'problem'.

Her thoughts had become so deep that she had not realized that her bowl was entirely empty, and had been empty for the past ten minutes. She was unsure what shook her from her thoughts, but she had reason to believe that it was the four or so people staring at the little nine year old girl who had been pretending to eat from a bowl of soup for ten minutes straight.

She wasn't even sure how much time had passed between the start and end of her meal, but she did know that the Sun was now hanging lower in the sky than it was before.

Still, she sat, wondering what next to do in the day. Unfortunately for her, the fates had already planned something for her, involving a little blonde boy that was staring at her from one of the nearby tables.

"Hey..." He whispered loudly, his hand on the side of his mouth as he attempted to get her attention. "Sorry about running into you."

It was obvious that he had no intentions of actually being stealthy or discreet about the fact that he had ran her over earlier in the day.

She sighed to the boy, looking at him dryly and sighing deeper. "Don't do it again and don't look at me again. Then we'll be fine."

"I'm Naruto." He seemed completely unphased by her dismissal to him, and continued to speak even after another protestant sigh. "Naruto Uzumaki."

His full introduction seemed to spark a train of thought within her. Her eyes snapped open and her calm posture suddenly shot up as she thought hard.

Her head turned slowly to look at him. Her four sandy blonde ponytails moved only so much with her slow movements, her green eyes looking at him and inspecting him closely. The last name certainly threw her for a loop, but she said nothing directly to the boy as she pointed out everything she saw wrong. He must have just taken the name, hearing it in a Konoha history book and thinking that it would be cool to be one.

She was slow to reply to him, wondering what to say when it suddenly hit her. "Temari." Was her ingenious and unique reply to his introduction. With one last sigh of indignation, she turned her head slightly away and looked to the door. "Why were you running from those ANBU earlier? Were you afraid of what your parents were going to do when they found out about whatever you did to garner that much of a response?"

Now it was his turn to give out a slow and almost cautious reply. "I, uh...Yeah. Nobody really likes it when I do stuff, but just you wait!" He tried his hardest to turn everything around for the better. "They're yelling my name now, but they'll be saying Naruto-sama in no time!" He laughed loudly and heartily, almost too much so for any normal person.

"Anyway." He was quick to cut off his own laughter, but resumed the lighthearted tone that invited her to relax and laugh with him. "You here with the Kazekage?"

Temari was shocked to hear that this little boy, at least a year younger than her, could easily identify that she was not from Konoha, even going as far as to correctly assume that she was with the Kazekage.

"H-how did you know that?" She asked warily. It was almost worrying to see this little boy change from happy-go-lucky to over-aware in a matter of seconds.

Naruto tapped his chin, humming as he thought out his reply. "Well, The Old Man was going crazy the past couple days because the Kazekage decided to walk in without an invitation, so he had most of the ANBU and the Police clean up a bunch for you guys."

"Old Man?" She echoed curiously. "You mean the Hokage?"

He nodded with a chirp of conformation. "Yeah, him!" He smiled with the intensity of the sun itself, chuckling to himself and relaxing in his own seat near her table. "But Konoha's gonna be calling me the Hokage soon enough, believe it!"

He was such a strange boy that was for sure. Spouting off his lofty dreams with unrivalled confidence in hopes that he would actually get the hat someday. She supposed that having that kind of confidence would help him win some people over, but he would need much more than that.

"Naruto!"

The two children turned their heads to look at the two ANBU standing in the doorway to the cafe, looking at the young blonde boy in his seat that was somehow closer to Temari than he was when their conversation had started.

These were not the two agents that had run past her earlier, as she would have recognized the large brown robes that they wore when they nearly collided with her before.

However, something struck her as strange.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are ordered by the ANBU of Konoha to step away from the Kazekage's daughter. We're here to take you back home."

The first of the two ANBU stepped forward, his hood angled just well enough for Temari to make out some of the details on his mask. Most, if not all of the ANBU in Konoha had masks that were inspired by animals, not more demonic figures like the two masks before her.

"Its okay, ANBU, I have everything under control here. He isn't bothering me." Temari attempted to dissuade him, as well as a test, but the agent walked ever onward.

"This is for your safety, Honorable Daughter. And the safety of everyone else in the village." His words were too calm for normalcy; it lacked emotion even. Another thing struck her. This kind of attitude would be normal for an ANBU of Suna, where the strict militaristic outlook on life would encourage such actions. In Konoha, however, he seemed so very much out of place.

Temari looked to the other ANBU, attempting to look at their mask as well, but she was unable to.

The other agent was gone.

Looking around quickly, Temari noticed that the first ANBU had been keeping Naruto busy, while the other attempted to capture him from behind. It seemed like nobody in the cafe was planning on doing anything to help the boy, and as the adrenaline began to pump through her veins, she threw one of her utensils at the ANBU behind Naruto, hoping to give the two a small window to escape.

Without any visible surprise, the ANBU was quick to catch the silver fork, looking at it before looking at Temari, who had a hand seal prepared and aimed at him.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!" She shouted, releasing the blast of chakra at the agent. A great gust of wind assembled and was flung at the ANBU, rushing at him with the intent of injury.

Temari's chakra coils were still developing, and even as the child of a Kage, Temari used a great deal of her reserves to create the jutsu. The full force of the jutsu was too much for her to handle, so she instead of creating a smaller and much less harmful variation of the technique to catch him off guard, it was a veritable slash of considerable damage.

In the agent's confusion, Temari had grabbed the boy and pulled him away, running out of the cafe with all her speed.

"Those aren't normal ANBU!" Temari exclaimed, still running as fast as her legs could carry her. "We need to get moving."

Her words had clicked something inside Naruto's head, as he instantly began to run alongside her, despite the fact that he was much smaller and younger than she was.

"We need to get the attention of the real ANBU. Can you do anything?" She looked to the boy, who smirked deviously and ran even faster, running through the village and screaming at the top of his lungs.

He knew that the people of the village did not like him, and him causing trouble and disturbances was a sure-fire way to attract attention from the ANBU.

Soon enough, a good portion of the ANBU and the police force had come to see what the problem was. By this time, Temari and Naruto had stopped running, waiting in the market as they watched the ANBU and police arrive one by one.

"What's going on here?" Asked the tired and exasperated voice on the dog-faced ANBU agent. "Naruto, this isn't another ghost problem, is it?"

"What!? No! And ghosts are real, believe it!" Naruto shouted back at the ANBU, almost shocking Temari once more at his blatant defiance to the ANBU. "We had some weird ANBU guys chasing us; they didn't look anything like you guys!"

Grumbles and moans could be heard from the police and ANBU around Kakashi, Naruto, and Temari. Soon enough, they all walked away with disinterest, while Kakashi stayed.

"Let's bring this up to the Hokage. He'll want to know about it." Kakashi laid out the terms, which were agreed to by Naruto and Temari with nods of the head. He turned to look at her through the slits in his mask. "I'm sorry you've been dragged into this. I'll apologize to your father personally."

"There's no need." Temari spoke back. "My father wanted me to enjoy the city, so there's no reason I shouldn't get a little mixed up in its problems. I just want your Hokage to know there's a problem." She began to walk, leading the group of three to the Hokage's tower.

"Whoever they were, they will be found and will be swiftly punished." Temari spoke. Whoever was in charge of the two strange ANBU had just, possibly knowingly, started a political storm, having attempted to stage a kidnapping right before her, and even disregard her entirely of her honorable status.

Let the political shitstorm commence.

* * *

 **(song to listen to: MiniMusicMan - Crazy La Paint)**

 **Well, this is certainly taking an interesting turn, don't you think? Starting things a little early and shaking things up just as fast. I hope that you guys have enjoyed the twists and turns of this chapter, and if you did (Or didn't, because I actually enjoy complaints to help improve the story), please Read, Rate, and Review! Hopefully the next chapter will get up a little sooner than the gap between this one and the last, but for now...**

 **Until next time!**

 **P.S. Shout outs next chapter for anyone who guesses the title's easter egg! - Ogre**


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